Stats and Superlatives: Bucs at Panthers

Bill VothNews, Week 15Leave a Comment

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The Panthers:

  • Have won two straight games for the first time since the first two weeks of the season.
  • Ended all 11 of their drives in Bucs’ territory.
  • Have scored one or fewer touchdowns five times in 14 games.
  • Had 28 first downs, which tied for the second-most in a game in franchise history.
  • Had two players (Greg Olsen/Kelvin Benjamin) with 100 or more receiving yards in a game for the first time since Steve Smith and Jonathan Stewart did it against the Packers on 9/18/11.
  • Gave up 151 rushing yards, the most they’ve allowed since the Bengals gained 193 in Week 6.
  • Have allowed a league-worst five runs of 40+ yards.
  • Have five takeaways the last two weeks after they forced just seven turnovers over their previous seven games.
  • Started six rookies (Philly Brown, Andrew Norwell, Trai Turner, Kelvin Benjamin, BenĂ© Benwikere, Tre Boston) for the first time in franchise history. Brown did not start last week when the Panthers set a franchise record by starting five rookies against the Saints.
  • Swept the Bucs for the second straight season.

The Bucs: 

  • Scored exactly 17 points for the sixth time this season. They have scored 17 or fewer points in 11 of their 14 games.

Panthers:

  • Coach Ron Rivera improved his record to 13-3 in December. He also won his first challenge in five tries this season. He is now four-of-16 on challenges overall.
  • QB Derek Anderson has won back-to-back starts for the first time since he led Cleveland to a pair of wins at the end of 2009. In his two starts against the Bucs this year, Anderson was 49-of-74 for 507 yards, three touchdowns, and no interceptions.
  • RB Jonathan Stewart lost a fumble for the first time since 12/19/10, a span of 448 carries. He had 20+ carries for the seventh time in his career, but his 73 rushing yards were his fewest when he’s had that many carries.
  • WR Kelvin Benjamin tied a career high with 13 targets. In two games with Anderson, Benjamin has caught 14 of his 21 targets for 196 yards.
  • WR Jerricho Cotchery, who had a career-high 10 touchdowns last year with the Steelers, scored for the first time this season. In two games with Anderson, Cotchery has caught all nine of his targets for 79 yards.
  • WR Philly Brown had a career-best 17-yard carry, but he caught just one of his six targets.
  • TE Greg Olsen equaled his single-game career high, which he set last week, with 10 receptions. He had 100+ receiving yards for the third time this season and fourth time in his career. He now has 81 catches this year, which breaks the team record he set in 2013 for most receptions by a tight end in a season. In his two games with Anderson, Olsen has caught 18 of his 24 targets for 193 yards.
  • DE Kony Ealy had the second sack and first forced fumble of his career.
  • LB Luke Kuechly caught his first interception of the season. He had four last year and two in 2012. His six tackles were a season low.
  • S Roman Harper had his first sack since 12/18/11 and his first regular-season forced fumble since 11/6/11.
  • K Graham Gano made four field goals for the first time since 12/24/11. His only miss was from 50 yards. He’s 1-of-3 from 50+ yards this year after he set a team record last season by nailing all six of his attempts from that distance.
  • P Brad Nortman did not punt until midway through the third quarter, but then all three of his punts were downed inside the Bucs’ 20-yard line.

Bucs:

  • QB Josh McCown was 35-of-63 for 337 yards with three touchdowns and three interceptions in his two starts against the Panthers this year.
  • RB Doug Martin had his longest carry (63 yards) since 11/4/12 (70 yards). He also had his most rushing yards (96) since 9/15/13 (144).
  • WR Mike Evans caught the 11th touchdown of his rookie season, but he finished with just two receptions for 13 yards. In two games against the Panthers this year, Evans caught seven of his 17 targets for 50 yards